Blogger has updated my template for me without being asked. I have changed the colour scheme and rather like the clean new design, but elements like my blogroll will have to be recreated. It could be a busy weekend, particularly as I have been asked to write a piece for Comment is Free on the row over the accreditation of representatives at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Birmingham.
I've been asked by a participant to give a plug to this years Auld Alliance Edinburgh Paris Sponsored Cycle. If readers want to follow their blogs I understand it will help raise more sponsorship. Here are the links www.prenticeevents.com and http://ed2paris.blogspot.com A worthy cause and best of luck to all involved.
What is Nadine Dorries for? Obviously she is very much for reducing the number of abortions. And, it would appear, is the willing purveyor of any amount of nonsense in pursuit of her objective. Today Channel 4′s Factcheck blog has her bang to rights. Dorries has made a number of apparently evidence-based claims in a ...
Wed 31st
22:47
Traditional End of the Month Lolcat makes veiled reference to Birmingham Lib Dem Conference
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There's a planning application at present in the ward that's proving just a tad controversial. Teesside High School wants to generate some of its own power - very laudable. In doing so it wants to educate the pupils about the need for energy conservation and about renewable energy - again, very laudable. So on the roof of the school they want to install some solar panels - very good idea. So
The Independent claims today that millions of householders are being duped when making donations to door-to-door charity bag collectors. The issue was also covered on Radio Suffolk. The Independent says: Only a third of items donated stand a chance of ending up in high-street charity shops, with most items sold abroad for private profit, according to research by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Many charities, often those without shops, do deals with commercial firms who collect for them with bags emblazoned with the charity logo. But the company keeps all the donated goods and then re-sells them for profit, mostly ...
This evening, along with two of my ward colleagues, I met with around 20 parents of pupils of St John's High School at Blackness Library to discuss their concerns at the loss of the 4S school bus. It is very clear that the so-called "alternative" bus services simply do not work in terms of getting pupils to school on time (and the 26 service is also proving unreliable) - and the return journey is meaning pupils getting back very late - in one case cited tonight - at 5.15pm. It is completely unacceptable that pupils living in the St John's ...
Wed 31st
22:00
"Prime Minister David Cameron's Liberal Democrat deputy has quietly emerged as the more successful W...
So writes Paul Goodman in the Daily Telegraph: That Clegg persuaded his party to cohabit with the Conservatives is a tribute not only to his powers of persistence and his colleagues' appetite for office, but also to the Coalition Agreement itself. Its importance can be over-stated. The Government has done things that aren't in it, such as housing benefit cuts. And it won't do things that are in it, such as postal ballots for primaries. But its carefully crafted terms, approved by a Liberal Democrat team apparently surprised by the co-operation of the Conservative one, achieved many of the party's ...
Wed 31st
21:17
Pollwatch: global public less concerned with climate change than other environmental issues
[IMG: Media_httpblognielsen_yxjml] via neilstockley.blogspot.com This post comments on a new Nielson survey of global online consumers. To read the whole post, click on the words neilstockley.blogpost.com, above. Posted via email from Neil Stockley's posterous
Caroline Pidgeon AM reports back that people are being overcharged on their Oyster Cards by more than £1 million every week with overcharging occurring at every tube and train station across the capital. Last year Oyster users in Clapham Junction were overcharged by £540,000! Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly have uncovered that Oyster Pay As You Go passengers were overcharged nearly £60 million last year, affecting every tube and rail station in London. "This level of overcharging is totally unacceptable. There is something very seriously wrong when each and every week of the year Londoners are ripped off by ...
Wed 31st
21:10Neil Stockley: Pollwatch: global public less concerned with climate change than other environmental ...
[IMG: Media_httpblognielsen_ywbgh] via neilstockley.blogspot.com Posted via email from Neil Stockley's posterous
When the director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) says it would be "barking mad" at present to implement the reforms likely to be recommended by the Independent Commission on Banking, that's impressive, isn't it? The head of British manufacturing making common cause with the bankers. Except it is nothing of the sort. As Evan Davis emphasised when interviewing him on Today this morning, John Cridland is employed to speak on behalf of the banks, because the major banks are all members of the CBI. And well done to Davis: I cannot remember the last time I heard ...
This evening I've been looking at the new play areas on the Ridgegrove Estate to see how the equipment is bedding in. The good news is that the kids still love it. The bad news is that there are a few teething troubles. I've written to the council to get them sorted. The biggest problem appears to be the replacement turf that has been laid in strips where the old equipment was removed. This is very thin and hasn't 'taken' in large areas - particularly on the lower play area. One small area appears to be the result of people ...
Not a great deal to report in the last week, as the House isn't sitting until next Monday. Yesterday we had the carpets steam-cleaned, which meant removing everything from the floors, including the one in my office which has always been part of the filing system. It took an amazing amount of work to pile everything up in the rooms without carpets, and then to restore them to their rightful places after the exercise was over. At the same time one of my computers suffered a catastrophic failure which meant buying a new copy of Windows 7 and installing it, ...
This evening I've reported the huge pothole that has appeared on the corner of Newport Square outside the White Horse pub. Knowing how well the highways section of Cornwall Council works, I know they'll be on the case very quickly. Tweet
As I continue my reading of Tudor history in Ireland, it suddenly occurred to me that the designation of various Englishmen as 'Presidents' of Munster and Connacht during the reign of Elizabeth I must be one of the earliest examples of the use of the word 'President' in English to refer to a senior government official. Looking at the Oxbridge colleges, the following were founded before the reign of Elizabeth I and have a President as Head of House: Queens', Cambridge (1448), Magdalen, Oxford (1458), Corpus Christi, Oxford (1517), St John's, Oxford (1555), Trinity, Oxford (also 1555). I don't know ...
In an almost vain attempt to catch the last of the summer sun, I am currently on a camping holiday in Devon with my father and my brother. I'm typing this on my laptop sat in a field somewhere south of Exeter with my fingers gradually going numb. As a result of being on holiday, my blogging activity has decreased somewhat. However, I do have one very important post which will be going up tomorrow and which I'd like to ask any bloggers who read my blog to cross post onto their own blogs. Anyway, I'll be paying a visit ...
Remembering the 1970s on the New Statesman website, I once wrote: One of the most popular bands of the era was The Wombles, who always appeared on stage in large furry costumes. The advantage of this was that anyone could be a Womble, and a shifting cast of session musicians used to share the gigs between them. But, thanks to the good offices of Michael Levy, on occasion a Womble costume would be worn by a hungry young Labour politico. Levy's recent memoirs are disappointingly sketchy on the subject, but it is known that Jack Straw, Patricia Hewitt and Dr ...
non-fiction 11 (YTD 46) Full House, by Stephen Jay Gould The Plot Against Pepys, by James Long and Ben Long Primate Robinson, 1709-94, by A.P.W. Malcolmson The End of the Peer Show? ed. Alexandra Fitzpatrick A Reader's Companion to A Civil Campaign, edited by Nikohl K. & John Lennard Science & Technology in 19th-Century Ireland, ed Juliana Adelman & Éadaoin Agnew Granuaile: Grace O'Malley - Ireland's Pirate Queen, by Anne Chambers Early Christian Lives, ed. Carolinne White George Herbert, Priest and Poet, by Kenneth Mason Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: A Practical Guide, by Elaine Iljon Foreman and Clair Pollard Neurolinguistic Programming: ...
Natural resources are running out, we are polluting a planet that is already overcrowded, the recent rioting in the UK shows crime is everywhere and the free-market system is failing. It seems that we are going to hell in a ... Continue reading →
This post marks the beginning of a bit of a Mike Moore Fest which will be appearing across here, Lib Dem Voice and The Steamie over the next few days. I had a really good, long chat with him recently and I wanted to share it with you. I was going to start with that today, but this just happened to drop into my inbox this afternoon and I thought it would be idea to start the Moore Mike is speaking tonight to the David Hume Institute in Edinburgh on the theme: Empowering our nation, reaching our potential: the future ...
Hooray yet again for Saint Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Business Secretary, who is apparently fighting the good fight within Government for worthwhile banking reform to happen as soon as possible. A pleasant word also for the Federation of Small Businesses for backing him up by pointing out that the bankers' words in this case don't hold water. The Bankers, their paid lobbyists in the CBI and their apologists in the Tory Party, are claiming that they shouldn't be subject to significant reform. And if they lose that case (which it seems they will), they want any reform to be ...
Readers of this occasional blog may know that my elderly, frail and blind tabby cat, Paddy (named after Ashdown), got shut out of the house a year ago and I thought was lost forever. But there was a resurrection. He was found, grossly ... Continue reading →
Attempts by conservation officials at the district council to stop Loreto College providing a pedestrian access for school children were overthrown last night. Chris White, who brought the matter to committee when officials indicated that they would turn it down a second time, said: 'It is baffling why the officers were opposed. No local residents objected. The wall that will have a new gate inserted in it is not particularly distinguished compared with other parts of the boundary wall. This looks like opposition for the sake of it.' The new gate on Beaconsfield Road will allow pupils to enter the ...
As Stockport Council is reporting: The M60 in Stockport will be closed overnight throughout October due to Network Rail maintenance work on Stockport Viaduct. The M60 will be closed clockwise between Junctions 26 (A560 Crookilley Way) and 1 (Stockport Pyramid) and anti-clockwise between Junctions 1 and 27 (Portwood). The work will be carried out from October 3rd-31st between 10.00pm-5.00am. The alternative routes for motorists are: M60 Anti-clockwise: Traffic wishing to continue on the M60 anti-clockwise will exit at Junction 1 and follow the A5145 eastbound to the junction with the A560; at the roundabout take the first exit and follow ...
So after three days of to be frank cringe-worthy presenting Channel 4 have removed Ortis Deley from the main achor role on their live coverage of the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Daegu, Korea. I don't think anyone will be surprised but if you haven't watched any of it and don't believe it can be so bad that it warranted his removal within three days then please watched the following. Yeah pretty darn awful. I wrote a couple of months ago about Ortis' appointment, 'The front man will be former CBBC and The Gadget Show presenter Ortis Deley. I know ...
As the recovery stutters in Europe and America many people (especially in the financial markets) are hoping Ben Bernanke will reflate the wheezing economy with a third round of quantitative easing (QE3). So far he has stopped short of promising ... Continue reading →
Below is a brief video clip I did of Great Bay beach, St Martins, Isles of Scilly at noon on August 26th. As I commented on a post at the time, this is considered one of the top ten beaches in the world. Note the small ripple against the shore. Yesterday the weather was similar – the sea was like a mill pond. And yet, tragically, a woman drowned here. I'd like to express my sincere condolences to the lady's family and friends. I will not pontificate on such a recent tragedy, except to say that such a searingly sad ...
I am delighted that the SNP Group on the City Council have agreed to support the proposal to build the Tram line to St Andrew's Square. I know that it was not an easy decision and that lot of soul searching has gone on there. Others will cast stones but not me! It is always a brave thing to do to move from a long standing position for the good of the public. This move isn't any admission on their part that they were wrong but a realization that things have moved on, that there will be a tram line ...
It's good to see that banks and even the CBI are apparently worried about the state of Europe's economy particular as it effects the euro. Reading the Times this morning Vince Cable the Business Secretary puts some perspective on the lobbying by banks who he suggests are using the euro crisis as a reason not to introduce safeguards between the normal customers of banks and the freewheeling investment bankers who in reality are little more than reckless gamblers, who not long ago robbed us all blind with a little help of Gordon Brown and his Labour colleagues. Anyhow it's seems ...
Why does the NHS need updating? The NHS is a national treasure. But despite the best efforts of staff, the NHS could deliver better care for patients. Right now around one in four cancer patients are only diagnosed when they turn up as emergencies. So although the NHS is good, it could be better still. What is the purpose of the bill? To update the NHS to give every patient the best possible
I have no reason to be a particular fan of King Abdullah of Jordan, the head of state of a country that is nowhere near to being a liberal democracy. I am fascinated to learn today that he has come out against a Palestinian unilateral declaration of statehood at the UN in September. In this, he echoes the Secretary-General of the Arab League. The vile extremists of Hamas, meanwhile, would not wish to recognise Israel within any borders; such recognition would be implicit in a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood in only part of Israel/Palestine - they'd be recognising Israel ...
I was on Radio Tay news earlier about this - click "play" below to listen :
Many commuters will know the pain of being stuck on busy rush hour trains, crushed in door ways or sitting in the aisles. In wet weather they are wedged against other wet bodies, cold, wet and frustrated all the while they stare at the first class section with, in some cases twenty seats in with say three or four people. It is a throw back to a bygone age, in today's modern classless society should there still be a first class? The very differentiation between second and first class is offensive in itself. It is bad enough that "men in ...
A lot has been written about the riots that affected Ealing and other areas of the country.The Liberal Democrat group were more than impressed with the speed and efficiency that Council staff and contractors helped to get Ealing cleaned up from the damage.The police also were criticised but half of Ealing's officers were sadly moved to other areas of London. They did the best job they could in a difficult situation. I think the Met though need to look again at when it moves police resources from one area to another in these fast-moving situations.Liberal Democrats have always said that ...
Wed 31st
13:35Pollwatch: global public less concerned with climate change than other environmental issues
The Guardian's Damian Carrington has commented on a new Nielson survey, showing that across the world, more than two in three online consumers are concerned about climate change. That figure has hardly changed in the last four years. But people in the biggest polluting nations, the United States and China, are becoming less concerned. The Nielson survey rams home a hard political truth: the extent to which concern about climate change is driven by consumers' perceptions of their own interests, especially the "hip pocket nerve". As Carrington says: At the highly concerned end are Thailand, Mexico and Indonesia, all places ...
This week it was revealed that 65 people are injured by uninsured drivers every week. 15 people were killed, 307 seriously injured, 3,085 injured during 2010. by uninsured drivers. That is an awful lot of people lives wrecked. People willing to drive while uninsured (compared to insured drivers) are: Ten times more likely to have been convicted of drink driving Six times more likely to have been convicted of driving a non-road worthy vehicle Three times more likely to have been convicted of driving without due care and attention On average every insured driver is paying £30 more each year ...
I've been a bit slow on this one what with Bank Holidays and birthdays and Council work, but thanks to a tip-off by Spiderplant Land, I have noticed that nominations for the Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards 2011 have opened and close this Friday, 2nd September. A number of readers of this blog have already told me that they've nominated me in the recent Total Politics Blog Awards which is madness but a very nice, fluffy and warm kind of madness all the same. I remember keeping Steph Ashley company at her first conference in Brighton (was it ...
Here's the email I received today from the Liberal Democrat conference office, followed by the email I think I should have received. ACTUAL EMAIL Dear Mark, Just to confirm, we have received information from Greater Manchester Police that you have been successfully accredited for the upcoming Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference 2011. Your conference pass will be posted to you in September. In the meantime all conference papers, including the Agenda, Directory and Training Guide, are available to view online at www.LibDems.org.uk/AutumnConferencePapers We look forward to seeing you at conference. The Conference Team The Liberal Democrats Please note: should you have ...
Wootton Bassett has touched our hearts, collectively, over the past four years. This small Wiltshire town took it upon themselves to pay tribute to the fallen; those young men and women, who never returned and died serving their country. If it was not for the 345 service personnel, who passed through the town, I never ...
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=263602560326220 The Altogether Now Big Weekend
We all should be grateful to Dr Andrew Blick, a Senior Research Fellow at Democratic Audit, and to Lord (Peter) Hennessy for a report they have co-authored. Called The Hidden Wiring Emerges the pamphlet provides the best and most comprehensive analysis yet of the Coalition's draft Cabinet Manual, published in December 2010. The report raises interesting questions - along with what I think may be some unnecessary worries - about the nature of such a Manual and its constitutional significance. The genesis of the idea was from Gordon Brown but we shouldn't let that put us off. In the dying ...
You'd think with the way that Nadine Dorries has been PR preening this week, that she had the support of the whole Conservative party with her abortion amendment. Thats clearly not the case. This morning Niki Molnar of the Conservative Women's Organisation came out firmly against ...
Open Afternoon COME AND MEET SOME OF THE WALTON CENTRE'S DOCTORS, NURSES,STAFF AND GOVERNORS WORKING IN NORTH WALES. Colwyn Bay Talk by consultant neurologist Dr Rhys Davies: Dealing with a head pressure: the clinical neuroscience team 2.00-4.00pm Thursday 22 September Colwyn Bay Cricket Club, Rhos On Sea LL28 4LR To book a place, please email: communications@thewaltoncentre.nhs.uk or call the reservation answerphone: 0151 529 4188 This event is free: Included; Refreshments, Wheelchair access, Parking, short DVD about The Walton Centre and the Latest Newsletters.
A grant from a county councillor has funded a study into improvements to a communal access path in St Albans. County Councillor Chris White (St Albans Central) granted £945 from his locality budget to environmental charity, Groundwork Hertfordshire. The funding has enabled a feasibility study for improvements to a communal access path which also feeds St Albans High School in St Albans between Hillside Road and Townsend Avenue. The study has researched land use, ownership issues, services, existing route appearance, safety issues and recommendations for improvements. Cllr White said: "The route, which is particularly used by local schoolchildren, is currently ...
Caron points out this morning that Gareth Epps one our most popular and dedicated activists (and PPC and ex councillor) has been denied access to conference this year because of his photo being deemed unacceptable by the police. The Federal ...
Let's say the Coalition ends overnight and a General Election is held immediately, scrapping all plans for boundary redrawings and reductions in numbers of MPs and running on current opinion levels. I've plugged the numbers from the most recent ICM Voting Intention poll (C37/L36/LD17) into the election prediction at ElectoralCalculus.co.uk. The result is something like this: Use your own imagination as to what the government formed from that parliament would look like. Now I will indulge my optimistic side and say that I think that Lib Dem incumbency would help shore up our vote, and that I think we really ...
Stockport Council is launching a three-month consultation on next year's budget. Following last year's £16 million savings, the Council has to find a further £13.5 million in savings this year, and to balance the budget at the end of the process. The proposals being put forward for consultation involve losing around 160 posts, of which 50 are currently vacant. The consultation will kick off after the proposals come to the Executive meeting on 5th September and we'll be aiming to consult with a wide range of people. See the story on the Stockport Council website for more information.
A couple of years ago I wrote a few posts around the farcical arrangements the Labour Government were putting in place regarding those working with children, including parent helpers. Thankfully Lynne Featherstone got rid of this excessive and ineffective vetting and barring scheme. It breaks my heart to see our Party meekly accept a system for accreditation of Conference representatives, whose right to be at Conference is enshrined in our Constitution which is similarly disproportionate, discriminatory and downright daft. I have a really strong vested interest in making sure that nobody comes to harm at our Conference. As I've said ...
Just back from France, where I took a bit of a break from the news, only catching the odd snippet of what was going on in Libya. We had sattelite TV, but I pretty much restricted myself to enjoying the denouement to England's 4-0 thrashing of India. Only the sixth series whitewash in Test cricket history, you know. So, Cameron and Sarkozy prevail. The rebels, who looked for a time unlikely to be able to make an impact against the superior firepower of Gaddafi's forces, swept to Tripoli after more and more ordinary Libyans realised the game was up, and ...
Arif Ansari the man from the BBC who has valiantly been covering the shenanigans at Merseytravel has penned posting in his blo which is well worth a look. (Mind you he has not done much better than we have in getting answers out of Mark Dowd.) Part of his piece which compared how Greater Manchester and Merseyside Labour have dealt with a similar problem reads: As I've reported before, Merseytravel has institutional problems. It's the only local authority where councillors set their own allowances, and very generous they are too. Thirteen Labour councillors share out 31 paid posts between them. ...
As the title says, I've expanded my review of the Nick Clegg biography having had the chance to chew over a few of the contents further (and prompted by Gaby Hinsliff to make a comparison with the Ed Milibiand biography that has also come out recently). The Nick Clegg review, revised is here.
I don't suppose many readers spend much time on the Daily Express. Most people don't. But a quick glance at yesterday's editorial rant finds that they have it in for the Lib Dems. At a time when the tax burden and cost of living are rising and families are being squeezed ever more with each passing day the Lib Dems are fighting the Conservatives not for a tax cut but a tax rise. This is a reference to the re-emergence of the mansion tax. Not many Express readers live in £1 million homes. But they aspire to. And just to ...
I had an email this morning from the local 20 is plent campaign which I have copied below. I know Lib Dem colleagues in Portsmouth have been enthusiastic about this campaign and Fred Weavers and the Kew Lib Dems have been very keen to introduce a 20mile an hour limit around the Porttland St / Duke St area in Southport The 20s Plenty campaign will be hosting a public meeting on Monday 5th September, 7pm in the Grace Baptist Church Hall,to further explain the benefits of widespread 20 mph limits, see attached flyer. The key speaker at the meeting will ...
...and at the same time get it incredibly wrong? Not content with dealing with her defeat to Dr Evan Harris on national television earlier this week, she has resorted to writing what can only be described as a deeply personal ...
The Independent headline today is 'Osborne and Cable at war over bank reform'. Why does this make me smile broadly before I have read a single word of the article?
Elisabeth Sladen's Autobiography out in November [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
A very rare and wonderful clip from "The Worker" which ran on ATV/ITV from 1965 to 1970.
The upgrade to Manchester Airport's runway 1, which has been in progress since February, is set to be extended for a couple of months. This means that, instead of completing in September, the target completion date is now 11th November 2011. Whilst runway 1 is being upgraded, night-time flights have been using runway 2, which increases noise for some residents in Heald Green, Cheadle and Gatley. More information on what's happening can be found on the Manchester Airport website.
Opinion polls throw up more questions than they answer but sometimes the questions are very interesting. It is interesting questions where progress is made as shown by the head of Google who says that he runs his company on questions not answers. So the recent MORI results have shown up some interesting questions too about ...
Today - August 31st 2011 is my last day in office as both the Vice Chair of the LGA and the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Local Government. At one second past midnight a new broom will sweep in ... Continue reading →
For those who have to endure endless presentations and lectures this proposal by Switzerland's Anti-PowerPoint Party to outlaw PowerPoint presentations. Matthias Poehm, who founded the party, claims that €350bn could be saved globally each year by ditching what he describes as the scourge of public speaking: Poehm believes that the software takes people away from their work and teaches them little. "There is a solution," he says. "A flipchart." On leaving academia seven years ago I vowed that I would never use PowerPoint again. I still speak at conferences, though, and have been known to rant at organisers when asked ...
Last night, I hosted a meeting at Blackness Library at which residents of the Shaftesbury Place area attended to discuss the extremely poor condition of the street's unadopted roadway. A senior engineer from the City Council's City Development Department attended to answer questions and provide advice. Following this meeting, I am now to discuss with the City Council's Legal Manager and the City Engineer ways in which an improvement to this really bad road condition could be achieved.
Markets capitulate when all policy options run out, and it becomes clear that a definite new policy direction must be undertaken. We are getting quite close to that point in the current market volatility. As various commentators take the economic temperature after their return from some agreeable foreign holiday, it is becoming clear that we are close to a major failure of confidence. The inter-bank market is beginning to freeze again, and the implications are plain: banks are finding it ever more difficult to finance themselves, and governments and central banks are running out of options to support them. Clearly ...
Just a reminder that the closing date of the Friends of Magdalen Green Christmas Card Competition is at the end of this week - 3rd September. If you click on the headline above or go to http://tinyurl.com/magdalencomp, you can get full details of how to enter!
Wed 31st
08:54Did journalists really not misuse one of the UK's largest databases of personal contact details?
Here's a little conundrum for you. Imagine you are a journalist working on one of the many titles that the Information Commissioner found was involved in dubious practices to get hold of personal information about people. Don't you think it's quite likely you would now and again have wanted to get hold of someone's home address? Perhaps to track down someone to doorstep them. Or maybe to trawl round the relatives of someone famous to find if anyone is willing to give you an interview. Now imagine there is a database of people in Britain which is so comprehensive and ...
Andrew Stroehlein: Lessons from a Decade of Conflict Ten years on, Osama bin Laden's caliphatist dream is not one step closer to being realised, and his nihilist vision of Islam never gained support from anything more than a miniscule fringe of his intended audience. Muslims were simply not interested, and by the time he was killed in his hideout in Pakistan, the Arab world was too busy pursuing positive goals, like fundamental freedoms and democracy, to notice. In that, there is a lesson in humility for the international community. (tags: war waronterror) New Statesman - No joy in slight here ...
The LibDems have just published an interesting discussion paper on local government finance policy. Raising income tax has become increasingly toxic in Britain. All parties are fearful to even talk about raising it. This means that as governments have increased spending the only way they can politically raise more money is through higher borrowing and increasing indirect taxation, which hits the poor harder than the wealthy. At the same time raising local government finance and funding for the needs of rural communities have both become increasingly difficult. The LibDems are great believers in communities and providing them with the opportunities ...
